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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28701063">Steve Bumbling Through Life After The Upside Down</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunlitsteve/pseuds/sunlitsteve'>sunlitsteve</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stranger Things (TV 2016)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 08:49:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,804</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28701063</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunlitsteve/pseuds/sunlitsteve</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A one shot based on steve getting a job with jim hopper &amp; a found family arises</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eleven | Jane Hopper &amp; Steve Harrington, Joyce Byers &amp; Steve Harrington, Steve Harrington &amp; Jim "Chief" Hopper, Steve Harrington &amp; Maxine "Max" Mayfield</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Steve Bumbling Through Life After The Upside Down</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>to say steve had had a weird year would’ve been an extreme understatement. last halloween he got the shit beaten out of him by billy hargrove and has either adopted, or been adopted by five 14 year olds. after being adopted by said teenagers, he was then designated driver to every single ‘event’, be that the snowball dance, d&amp;d campaigns at the wheelers, or driving mike to see el on rainy days. not that he minded, of course not. steve would never complain that the silence of the void had been filled by the kids, and if dustin ever so shyly asked him to stay for one dungeons and dragons game one night, which turned into every single week, who was he to refuse them? </p><p>it changed in summer, though, after he got the job with robin and he finally had another friend his age, even if that meant they were both kidnapped by evil russians and dustin and erica sinclair of all people had to save their asses, he still wouldn’t change the summer for the world. oh, except for the fact when hopper “died”, and billy turned into some rampaging murderer that stole people to melt them into some form of fleshy, spider thing. </p><p>it changed again when hopper came home, though, and all was calm in the world again. el had her dad, joyce had hopper and they decided to move back from california so mike wasn’t complaining as much anynore, and although the noise wasn’t as loud, there still wasn’t silence, and steve was ever so grateful for that. a few months after hopper had his job back on the force, he offered steve a job, and steve was so shocked but accepted and now we get to where we are. a few weeks before christmas, and hopper had asked steve to teach el to drive even though she was still young, because you never know when el might need an emergency get away, and he was also the chief of police so he could basically do what he wanted with his kid. </p><p>the responsibility of teaching el hopper to drive was.. a huge one, but steve felt like he could do it. so there he was, on his way to pick up el since hopper had given him the day off specifically to teach el, and.. how hard could it be, right? he pulled up outside of joyce’s new house that her and hopper had bought together, except they won’t admit they’re in Love yet, which is stupid in steve’s eyes but whatever. he honked the horn and chuckled as he saw el’s head pop up in the window and her eyes widen. </p><p>he got out of the car and got into the passenger side and she stopped dead still. “what.. are you doing?”</p><p>“i’m teaching you to drive?”</p><p>“why are you sat there?”</p><p>“so.. you can drive?”</p><p>“oh.” el furrowed her brow for a second before sitting in the drivers seat. her feet dangled because she was still so small and steve laughed again. </p><p>“okay there should be a small bar under the seat, lift it up and scoot forward until you can touch the pedals, okay?” he was staying on els street since they were a little way out of the town and there were barely any houses except for max’s house further down the street. </p><p>el nodded as she scooted forward until she got settled and steve nodded. “okay so you want to see the wheel like a clock, and have your hands at 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock, does that make sense?” el nodded again and pressed her foot down on the accelerator and surged the car forward.</p><p>“woah, okay, more of a gentle touch with that one.” steve patted her shoulder and she looked at him all confused. </p><p>“why can’t i just make the car move?”</p><p>“but.. you are making the car move.”</p><p>“no, like this.” el scrunched up her face and all of a sudden the car was cruising down the street at a comfortable speed and el pulled her feet away from the pedals and crossed her legs, keeping her focus on the road and turning the car manually when she needed to. </p><p>“el. el. el! you need to use your feet!” steve scrambled for the words and el stopped focusing and the car came to an abrupt stop. </p><p>“why?”</p><p>“because you’ll exhaust yourself! and not to mention it’s illegal. why aren’t you bleeding?” </p><p>“i’m stronger now. i don’t get tired, or bleed. can i drive again? with feet?” </p><p>“uh, okay?” and so she did, she drove with steve just next to her in the car, and steve didn’t believe for one second she was using her feet to make the car move. </p><p>a few days after that, hopper had invited steve home for dinner, on joyce’s behalf, because hopper had gone home complaining that steve never ate a balanced meal when he went home because his parents were never home, and it always made steve cranky and hopper couldn’t deal with the fact steve was cranky. joyce knew hopper was complaining about steve’s attitude but she couldn’t help feeling for the boy when hopper said his parents were never home, so she demanded that hopper invite him for dinner during the week. </p><p>hopper was enraged, he had to see steve all day every day and now joyce wanted him to spend dinner with him too? was she insane? and joyce did the thing she always did, and placed a tiny hand on hoppers huge bicep and just looked at him with those eyes, so hopper conceded. steve round for dinner it was. </p><p>when hopper actually asked steve, steve’s eyes widened as wide as saucers and he stuttered a whole lot before answering yes, and then asking if he could go home to shower and get ready instead of coming straight from work, and hopper almost laughed until he realised steve was toying with his tie so hopper allowed him to go home to freshen up. it didn’t strike hopper as strange until he looked at the time, and it was 1pm, dinner wasn’t until seven. </p><p>steve did go home to freshen up, but he also knew never to go to anyone’s home for dinner empty handed, so he baked a pie. from scratch. that’s what he had to go home early for. he couldn’t turn up to their home for dinner that joyce would be spending all day making with nothing to gift in return, so he baked a blueberry pie. he hoped they liked blueberry. he liked the way el said burbelly instead of blueberry so the pie was mainly for her. he also got a thank you card for joyce, because it was nice that she wanted to have dinner with him, and steve wasn’t very well socialised with adults since his parents had never been around so he didn’t know what was dinner etiquette, so a pie and a thank you card it was. he hoped that would be alright. </p><p>he dressed himself in a long sleeved white collared shirt with a red crew neck sweater, with the sleeves of the shirt tucking over the cuffs of the sweater, and some black jeans with his red converse, curtesy of robin of course, who had actually come over to dress him for the occasion. </p><p>the pie came out of the oven and it was perfect and he had to fight robin not to eat any and bribe her with the fact he’ll make her one because she was obsessed with the fact it smelt so good, and then steve was ready to go. robin kept crying and saying it was like her baby was all grown up until he shut her up by pushing her onto the couch backwards to which she screamed and demanded a ride home, to which he obliged of course, because that was his best friend. </p><p>steve was nervous when pulling up to the byers-hopper household, especially when he saw jonathan’s car out in the driveway which meant jonathan was home from college, and now jonathan was going to /judge/ him for being in his house for dinner with a blueberry pie and a thank you note in red converse and he very nearly turned the car around until he saw el open the door and smile at him, so he turned the ignition off and stepped out of the car. </p><p>“hi, steve.”</p><p>“hi, el.”</p><p>“what.. is that?” she gestured towards the pie that steve had covered with a checkered tea towel. </p><p>“pie.” he stated dumbly. </p><p>“what kind of pie?” she quizzed him, not allowing him to step around her into the house, so he crouched down to her level so they were nose to nose. </p><p>“burbelly pie.” he poked her nose and she laughed, steve always made her smile. she let him into the house and insisted he take his shoes off, so he did, exposing red socks and she just laughed more at the fact he matched his socks and shoes to his jumper. </p><p>“steve! hi, honey, i’m so glad you could come!” joyce’s voice came out of the kitchen so he walked toward where he could hear her so he could keep the pie warm and give her the note. </p><p>“oh, steve! what’s this?” her face lit up at the sight of what was in steve’s hands. </p><p>“i uh, i always got told it was rude to go to someone’s house for dinner empty handed so.. i baked a pie?” he smiled awkwardly, placing the pie down on the countertop in the kitchen. </p><p>“oh! oh, sweetie, you are too good to us, and what’s this?” joyce pointed to the card in his hand. </p><p>“just.. a small thank you note. i’ve never been invited to a proper dinner before so i didn’t know what to do..” he trailed off and joyce cleaned her hands before pulling him into the tightest hug she possibly could. </p><p>“could you help me set the table? el! come help steve do the table.” joyce called, and steve nodded, overcome with emotions he wasn’t even sure he was able to feel. </p><p>steve was about to ask el where the cutlery was before the drawer opened and knives and forks started floating around in the air followed by plates and napkins all set carefully on the table.</p><p>“set.” el stated, eyes flicking between steve and joyce before she went back into the family room to retake her seat curled up next to hopper whilst he was reading her a book, clinging onto him like he was going to disappear again. steve decided to follow and sit on the sofa whilst waiting for things to be done, until he shook his head and got up and asked joyce if anything needed doing in the kitchen to alleviate some of the load off of her shoulders. </p><p>“could you check on the mashed potatoes?” she asked him, face deep in her cook book.</p><p>“make sure there’s no lumps, mom always leaves lumps.” steve heard jonathan’s voice float through the kitchen &amp; steve looked up to see jonathan leaning against the door frame with his hands in his pockets, a soft smile on his face. </p><p>“oh, yeah, sure. where’s the masher?” steve laughed and joyce handed it to him without even looking. </p><p>“good to see you, king steve.” jonathan snorted lightly as he patted steve’s shoulder as he walked past to get a bottle of water out of the fridge. steve felt about 4 feet tall. </p><p>he mashed the potatoes to jonathan and el’s liking of creamy fluffiness, and he ended up helping joyce cook the vegetables, it appeared they were having a pot roast dinner and joyce had never made a pot roast before, but luckily steve was very well versed in the kitchen due to being on his own and watching the cooking channels a lot. </p><p>once dinner was completed, el screamed at everyone to get in their seats before she blew the house up and that’s how everyone was sat down in less than a minute. joyce brought out the roast, whilst steve followed with mashed potatoes and vegetables followed by a huge pitcher of orange juice for the kids, a bottle of wine for joyce and a beer for hopper and jonathan. </p><p>“don’t you want a beer, steve?” hopper asked? mouth full of broccoli, and joyce gave him a look, so he swallowed and then reiterated his question. </p><p>“oh, no thank you, sir, i’m driving.” he poured himself a glass of orange juice. </p><p>“since when do you call hopper ‘sir’?” el asked, flicking a pea at will who whined. </p><p>“since he became my boss.” steve answered. </p><p>“but he’s your friend.”</p><p>“still my boss, tiny wizard.” it was funny, even though el was 13 years old he still liked to call her tiny wizard because she just didn’t seem to grow taller at all. </p><p>“you can call me jim outside of work, son.” hopper smiled around more broccoli and joyce kicked him under the table.</p><p>el had started flicking peas around the table with her mind, sometimes she’d just float them around and put them in peoples hair, or ears until steve said: “el, do you not like peas?”</p><p>“no.”</p><p>“why?”</p><p>“strange.”</p><p>“i like peas.”</p><p>“you do?”</p><p>“yeah, they’re good for you. like how carrots help you see in the dark, peas help you hear better.”</p><p>“friends don’t lie, steve.”</p><p>“i’m not lying, trust me.” steve ate a mouthful of peas and grinned at el, cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk, and el copied.</p><p>“now i’ll be super powerful.” she grinned and steve laughed whilst joyce just looked at hopper who was looking at steve with the fondest look on his face. </p><p>they all finished their dinner and then steve asked if he should dish up dessert, and hopper said “i thought you didn’t make dessert, joyce?” to which joyce replied:</p><p>“steve made pie.” </p><p>everyone’s jaw except els dropped because, steve baking? unheard of. </p><p>“i’ll go get the pie.” and steve stood up, and he could feel el walking close behind him so he hoisted her up onto the counter as he took the pie out of the oven where joyce had kept it warm. </p><p>“i like hanging out with you, steve.” el said as steve got the whipped cream out of the fridge and squirted some into his mouth. </p><p>“you’re just saying that so i’ll give you a squirt of cream.”</p><p>“maybe.” she smiled at him with her big brown eyes and he couldn’t help but melt and told her to open her mouth so he could squirt a blob of cream into her mouth and she giggled, jumping off the counter with the whipped cream can and steve couldn’t believe he’d just been played. </p><p>“el!” he called. </p><p>“mine.” she called back.</p><p>“i don’t care, plates?” </p><p>she never answered, she didn’t have to, because the plates from the table ended up stacked in the kitchen and then smaller dessert plates were floating through the kitchen with spoons, and steve brought out the pie. </p><p>the pie ended up being a big hit with the whole family, and steve felt so proud he could almost cry, but he saw joyce get up to start clearing the kitchen and he ushered her to stay seated, saying that he, el and will could sort it, which ended up in him receiving the dirtiest looks from el and will so he just glared at them back. </p><p>the three of them had a ball in the kitchen as el made bubbles float around everywhere from the washing up bowl and steve felt like he had a family, and suddenly the silence wasn’t so loud again. </p><p>after they’d cleaned up, steve said he better get off as it was getting late and he needed to feed his cat, so they let him go, all of them waving him off as he drove down old cherry road, passing maxs house, seeing her storm out of her house and billy’s step dad following not too soon afterwards. he rolled his windows down so he could hear the argument, and it didn’t sound good. it was times like these he was grateful that hopper had given him a badge to use in these situations with the kids, mainly max. </p><p>“hey, max, get in the car.” he said as he saw neil raise his hand.</p><p>“steve?” max cried. </p><p>“yeah, get in the car.” and max was running toward the passenger side of the car. as soon as she was in safe, steve got out of the car and locked the door. </p><p>“you can’t just kidnap my daughter!” neil raged. </p><p>“i’m a police officer, sir, and i saw you raise your hand against your child and i have every right to call it in right now, except the chief has just finished dinner and i doubt he wants to be disturbed right now, so i suggest you go back inside. ill be taking care of max tonight.” max’s step father just huffed and puffed as he stormed back inside. </p><p>“steve, my mom.” max whispered. </p><p>“i’m calling it in, don’t worry.” and so he did, he called it in, and hopper walked down the street to make sure max’s mom wasn’t in any danger and sent neil to the station with callahan, and that is how steve harrington ended up at the byers-hopper household one night a week for dinner and pie, on request of el.</p><p>christmas was an exciting time for steve, because he loved spoiling people, except up until now he didn’t have anyone to buy gifts for, so he was excited. </p><p>he was at home writing his gift list for people when the phone rang, and it was el on the other line. </p><p>“hello?”</p><p>“steve.”</p><p>“tiny wizard, how can i help you?”</p><p>“shopping.”</p><p>“uh, yeah?”</p><p>“i want to come with you.”</p><p>“how did you know i was going?” he smiled down the phone, and there was silence on the other line. “did you go in my head again?”</p><p>“i’m sorry.”</p><p>“you don’t have to do that, you know. i’ll pick you up in 15 minutes, okay?” </p><p>“‘kay.” and el hung up the phone and steve couldn’t help but laugh. he decided to pick up max on the way and take them both on a shopping trip, and he decided he would buy them anything they wanted, because they deserved it. </p><p>all three of them were singing in the car as they pulled into the cities big department mall, five times larger than starcourt itself and he was ready for the girls to go wild, but they didn’t. </p><p>“what’s up?” he asked. </p><p>“it might be expensive here, i don’t know if i can afford anything..” max trailed off and el added a small “yeah.”</p><p>“why do you think i’m here? i got you both, don’t worry about prices.” he smiled at them both and ushered them into the mall.</p><p>he ended up spending about an hour at the new build-a-bear where the girls made themselves to gift to each other, which steve paid for, of course. </p><p>he then ended up in a jewellery store to buy joyce a pair of earrings and hopper a new watch. </p><p>he asked the girls to go into the game store and pick out some things for the boys whilst he looked for some books for el, and he picked up the narnia series because he thought she’d enjoy hopper reading that to her. he picked up some records for max since her mom had told her she was getting a record player for christmas, and he found a dungeon master book for mike so he picked that up, too. </p><p>he bought dustin a new walkie talkie since his was breaking and the signal was getting shoddy, and decided if he was getting one a new walkie talkie, he had to get all of them walkie talkies. </p><p>he’d bought will a huge drawing pad with proper textured drawing paper and a set of watercolour pencils and felt pens.</p><p>the girls picked out their gifts for joyce and hopper &amp; the boys too, and then it was just nancy and robin left to buy for. he ended up back at the jewellery store because el had said she’d seen a beautiful necklace which actually had a robin on it and he knew he just had to buy it for robin, and decided to pick a small charm bracelet for nancy with a googly eyed monster on it, and then decided to get a polaroid camera for jonathan. </p><p>he bought everyone this stuff because they’d all been through so much, and he had so much money from his parents he genuinely didn’t know what to do with it, so what better to spend it on than his chosen family? </p><p>once they were all shopped out, steve took them back to his house where they crashed out on the sofa watching he-man, and he wrapped all of the presents individually and tied a ribbon on each one. he put them under the christmas tree that hopper had helped him set up and decorate since he was hosting Christmas this year since his house was bigger, and when it reached 8pm he woke the girls up with hot chocolate and said he’d drive them home at 8:30, and they agreed. </p><p>he bundled them in the car and dropped them off, and they both hugged him and thanked him for the shopping trip and the presents and he said it wasn’t a problem, because it wasn’t. </p><p>he spent the next 3 days decorating the house and preparing for the huge dinner he was cooking them all, and by the time Christmas day came, he was so excited. </p><p>he handed everyone their gifts as they sat by the fire and traded gifts, steve got a new baseball bat from dustin, a new pair of sunglasses from nancy, a pair of black chuck taylors from robin, a potted cactus from mike, a photo album from jonathan who had already started to put photos in it, a few new sweaters from joyce and hopper &amp; then el &amp; max had clumped their money together to get him a mans bracelet with everyone’s name engraved on it. he cried. </p><p>the kids were ecstatic when they opened their gifts, and the older group were emotional when they saw the meaning behind everything they were gifted, and everyone hugged for a while before steve told them dinner was ready. he had assistance from el setting the table, and he stood back as everyone tucked into the dinner he’d cooked them, and he was just so grateful. </p><p>grateful that the silence was no longer there, and he had a family who he loved, and who loved him. </p><p>steve was happy.</p>
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